Ripped In Space.....
Stolen Mechanics in Deep Space (well, some of them....)

Original 3 Ratings Concept by Christopher Weuve on the sfconsim-l list
Original Variable Dice Mechanic and Missile Combat Mechanic by James M. Dugan
Cargo Mechanics courtesy of Nyrath the Nearly Wise on the sfconsim-l list
Copyright 2002 James M. Dugan, who assembled this mess.

As you see here, the game is unfinished as yet, but that will change:

Each "Turn" goes as Follows:

• Information Warfare
• Escort Combat
• Capital Ship Combat, which includes Missile Combat
• All ships move. Each ship may move a number of spaces equal to move rating.
• Update Records and Missile Markers

FUNDAMENTALS:

Each fleet/ship has different categories of mission, and those different missions interact with each other. Those missions are:

• Capital Ship Combat
• Missile Combat
• Escort Combat
• Information Warfare

Each fleet/ship has a rating in all of these categories.

CSC-assigned ships fight the fleet action (some sort of beam weapons is assumed) with each other. EC-assigned ships fight each other and attack IW ships (i.e., EC-assigned forces can screen IW ships from attack). IW-assigned ships "fight" the IW battle, the winner of which gets a DRM in the Capital Ship battle determined by the magnitude of his victory in the IW battle. Missile Combat interacts with all three, and can turn the tide of battle in a close game - it can also merely be a nuisance if employed incorrectly.

• There are no firing arcs, at the scales that this game is intended to be played at, there is plenty of time to come about and bring guns to bear.
• Each Success Die in IW results in an additional Die added to Escort Combat.
• IW warfare may occur at ranges of 0-5.
• Each Success Die in Escort Combat drops IW rating of target by one die, if there is no IW value left, then the Escort Combat Value is dropped by one die. If there is no Escort Die left, then the Missile Combat Die is reduced. If there are no remaining Missile Combat Dice left, then the Capital Ship Combat Die are reduced. If all dice are reduced to zero, then the Move Value is dropped - once the Move Value is Zero, the ship's Hull Value is reduced - until the ship has all values reduced to Zero. At that tme the ship must roll a D6 as described under "Effects of Damage" below.
• One Missile Volley is eliminated by each successful Escort Combat Die.
• Escort Combat at ranges 0-3.
• Each Increase in IW is worth a 2 dice increase in Capital Ship Combat. CSC at range 0-2.
• Missile Combat is considered Capital Ship Combat, Missile Combat may occur at ranges 0-7 and is resolved as follows:
• One die per each Volley Launched, you may launch as many Volleys as you have on board.
• You may also launch as many Jammers (ECM/Countermeasures missiles) as you have onboard to counter the other ships launches.
• Put out one counter for each respective volley, it is on the board for a number of turns equal to range (numbered counters would be handy here).
• Missiles may be effected by IW, Jammers, or shot at by Escorts each turn it is on the board.
• Missiles may also be assisted by friendly IW.
• Each successful hit destroys a volley.
• Each Volley that gets to a ship rolls it's attack dice as a CSC attack against that ship.
• Each Success Die in CSC drops ALL ratings and ALL dice by one - until the ship has all values reduced to Zero. At that tme the ship must roll a D6 as described under "Effects of Damage" below.

Each Ship has a certain number of HULL points, which is the last thing lost to damage. Immobile Ships may be left alone to pillage later, but Ships that loose all Hull points do as Follows (Roll 1d6):

• 1-2: The ship merely breaks up, Lifepods deploy.
• 3: The ship is able to deploy only 1/2 it's Lifepods, many casualties.
• 4: The ship vents Plasma, sparks madly, all hands lost, the target is rendered inoperative, starts singing Klingon Opera, etc....
• 5: The ship explodes, Number of 8-sided Dice equal to Original Hull Value - this damage damages just like Capital Ship Damage, it effects all dice and ratings equally.
• 6: The ship explodes, Number of 8-sided Dice equal to Twice Original Hull Value - this damage damages just like Capital Ship Damage, it effects all dice and ratings equally.

Dice Mechanics are as follows:

• Intensity/Penetration is modeled by Dice Type - d4,d6, d8 - etc.
• The amount of damage is by the Number of dice - 4d6, 3D8, etc...
• IW Warfare is conducted as follows:
• Both sides roll their applicable IW dice, one at a time.
• One Die from one side is compared to the other die from the opposing side
• The higher die is a hit. Keep track of hits.
• After all oposing dice are rolled and paired, and hits are determined:
• the player with fewer hits reduces the number of hits that the player with more hits has by the number of hits he rolled
• the player with more hits counts the number of hits he has, once all his countered dice are removed - that is the number of hits he has.
• another way to say it is that the player with more successes reduces his successes by his opponents successes.
• If  one player has more dice, each additional die is a hit (ie - unopposed dice are hits)
• Armor/Shielding  is pretty Basic:
• Armor and Shields are effective only in Capital Ship and Escort Combat.
• IW Dice rolls are used as armor versus IW Attacks.
• All armor at the low energy end of things is reflective - like modern steel armor vs an explosive shell.
• At the top of the energy scale, Armor becomes Ablative - Steel doesn't stand up well vs a Laser, so Shields provide more protection.
• Armor has a base Value - Battleships would be about 10, Escorts at 7, Scouts at 3 -  on average - YMMV.
• The material has a max value - thisis based on the energy it can absorb, not on it's thickness. Armor has a max of about 3.
• Shields has no max value, but get pricier as you increase them.
• Determine dice type and number - roll them. This is given on the Ships Data Sheet
• Each die that's equal to or greater than the armor value (or IW Dice roll) is a damage point.
• Determine hit location if it's important to you.
  Hit results as follows:
• Each Success Die in IW results in an additional Die added to Escort Combat.
• Each Success Die in Escort Combat drops IW rating of target by one die.
• Each Increase in IW is worth a 2 dice increase in Capital Ship Combat.
• Each Success Die in CSC drops ALL rattings by one.
• CSC success reduces Hull by one after all ratings are zero.Each Hull Point loss reduces Move by one.

Ship Movement

• Ship Movement is Pseudo-Newtonian, so movement in a cardinal direction (3 directions if using hex, 2 if using squares) is either added to or subtracted from.
• Ships may change their movement by the amount of their "Move" value.
• There is an upper limit on ships speed in any Cardinal Direction (3 directions if using hex, 2 if using squares), the default value is 20.
• If this is too complicated, simply move any number of hexes in any combination up to the ships "Move" value.

A note from Chris:
One of the key elements would be that ships would have ratings for all three, and many ships would be good (or at least adequate) at all three.  Others would be designed to optimize one attribute at the expense of the other two.Part of the design goal was to avoid the situation which seems to happen in a lot of strategic level games, where the escorts are useful only as ablative armor for the larger ships.  Historically, escorts have rarely been designed to fill that role.  Rather, they should bring something to the task force that would otherwise be lacking.

Supply Rules (courtesy of Nyrath the Nearly Wise):
There are dotted lines between continents for merchant marine routes.  At intervals along the routes, merchant ship counters are placed. The counters do not move,  they do not represent actual ships, rather they were indicative of a *volume* of merchant ship traffic through that point. Their purpose is to give the enemy player a method to attack convoys, without all the muss and fuss of actually having counters for all the zillions of convoy ships and tediously moving the little pieces along the routes.
The route is only considered open if it has at least 1 merchant counters along it.  If the enemy destroys enough counters, the route is closed until new merchant counters can be purchased. And when a route is closed, the "out of supply" rules are invoked.

All Ratings Dice must be the same type (ie All D4, All D6, etc...) in each category (CSC, IW, etc). Each Category may have different Dice Types if desired.

Armor Mass is equal to rating cubed, cost is equal to rating.
Shield Mass is equal to rating squared, cost is equal to rating cubed X 3

IW Mass and cost is given on the chart:

Escort Ratings is as Follows, Cost is equal to Mass:

CSC Ratings, Cost is equal to 2X Mass:

Missiles Mass is equal to half CSC Mass for each Missile Volley, Cost is 1/4 mass.

Hull Mass is 5 each, Costs 1 each

Move Mass is equal to Total System Mass (not including Move) for each Point. Cost is equal to 1/4 Mass.